Pumpkin Bonfire

Set your pumpkins on fire with our cool pumpkin decorating idea. Mimic a bonfire with your pumpkins to make a fun focal point for your backyard. Our free stencil means this design is surprisingly easy, too.

Batty Pumpkin Silhouettes

Let your creative side take flight with this easy DIY pumpkin project. Glue a flock of bats cut from black poster board across a painted-white gourd. Go for white bats on a black gourd behind it. Graphic and giddy -- your porch never looked this good.(image credit: Linda Zurheide Braden)

Painted Halloween Gourds

Can't make up your mind as to your favorite pumpkin decorating technique? Employ an assortment of looks to achieve a front porch vignette that feels collected yet coordinated. Here, gold and chalkboard paints are used to add texture and dimension to six plump, squatty, and playful pumpkins.(image credit: Emily Hirsch and Erick Steinberg)

Quotable Porch Pumpkins

Quotes are a huge trend this year, and the holidays are a fun time to employ the trick. To get the look of these wordy Halloween pumpkins, paint your gourds with chalkboard paint and trace on your words using stencils. Remove the stencils, then fill in the letters with traditional white or colored chalk. Just don't forget to bring these delicate pumpkins in if it rains or else you risk runny rhymes.(image credit: Fair Goods)

Funny Pumpkin-Carving Project

Marker Pattern Pumpkins

If the idea of picture-perfect pumpkins is a little outside your artistic ability, this easy no-carve idea could be right up your alley! All that’s required is a semisteady hand and a collection of colorful markers. Just add your dots and dashes on top of white spray-painted pumpkins and your handiwork will be ready in no time. Bonus: This is a great decorating idea for the kids' table.
(image credit: Sara Schmutz)

Office Supply Pumpkins

Create your own "gourd"-geous no-carve pumpkins by incorporating two traditional office supplies: thumb tacks and a permanent marker. For one, grab a black permanent marker and add a weblike chevron pattern to a white painted pumpkin. For the second, push white thumbtacks into an orange pumpkin in the shape of a ghost. Black thumbtacks provide his eerie eyes and mouth.(image credit: Jamie Dorobek)

Light Bright Pumpkins

Give your porch a ghostly glow with a trio of shining pumpkins. You can use any kind of pumpkin, but we like the different colors and sizes of the Lumina, Long Island Cheese, and Jarrahdale types. Hollow out each pumpkin, making sure to scrape the sides smooth. Use a drill and a small bit to create different patterns of holes that will snugly fit the string lights. Finally, create a larger hole in the back so you can connect the cords to power.

Black Pumpkin Display

Grinning jack-o'-lantern faces will be all you'll see on Halloween night with this collection of black carved pumpkins. Simply paint your jack-o'-lantern with black acrylic or spray paint before carving. Use painter's tape around the stems to keep them paint-free.

Home Tour: Outdoor Pumpkin Display

Green Lantern Gourds

Illuminate your Halloweendecor with pretty and unexpected luminarias made from large, smooth-skin gourds. Their green color lends a fresh look to the season’s harvest motif.

First, make a hole in the side of each gourd that’s large enough for your hand, then scrape out the inside. Pick your favorite design and use a pencil or ballpoint pen to mark it on the skin.

Using an awl, paring knife, or crafts knife with a V-shape blade, carve out your designs. (You also can use a power drill with different-size bits.) Finally, tuck a strand of lights inside to illuminate the night.

White Pumpkin Doorframe

Frame your front door with an elegant display of white pumpkins and fall foilage. Simply stack groupings of three white pumpkins with faux moss, nests, or other fall foliage in between each pumpkin. Cornstalks, mums, and a cozy fall wreath make beautiful additions to the Halloween display.

Stacked Pumpkin Message

Create a welcoming outdoor pumpkin decoration for guests and trick-or-treaters this year.

Pick three short, wide pumpkins for this front porch display. Print the free pattern onto transfer paper. Transfer one word per pumpkin, and use black acrylic or crafts paint to fill in the outline. Stack pumpkins on an urn laced with creepy vines or spooky spiderwebs for a festive entryway.

Pumpkin Planter

Display a collection of various sizes and shapes of pumpkins for a beautiful outdoor Halloween decoration. Simply pile your gourds in a planter and place on your porch. If the planter is too large for your collection, fill with a block of florist's foam to keep your pumpkins at the top.

Monogrammed Pumpkins

Carve a monogram into pumpkins and place them on your front porch to welcome guests to your bewitching abode. Using a small, medium, and large pumpkin, carve the initial in different sizes and fonts. Layer the pumpkins on an old chair or stool to show off your handiwork.

Candy Corn Pumpkins

Place colorful no-carve candy corn pumpkins around your yard for a fun display this Halloween. Choose cone-shape pumpkins and clean their surfaces. Spray-paint the pumpkins, to achieve the candy corn look.

Editor's Tip: Cover stems with painter's tape to keep clean.

Trick-or-Treat Pumpkins

It's fun to create a strikingly sweet pumpkin grouping with a little masking tape, spray paint, and a drill. Use the tape to outline stripes, and cover the parts you'd like to remain orange; spray-paint black. Let dry completely, then remove the tape to reveal your design. Use a permanent marker to adorn each pumpkin with your favorite Halloween saying, drill holes along the black stripes for light to flicker through, and arrange in a vintage metal washtub for a rustic feel.

Harvest Pumpkin Basket

There's no better way to capture the essence of autumn than with a simple basket filled with cute miniature pumpkins and gourds. Pick different colors, sizes, and shapes, then layer them in a wicker basket or old bowl and place the arrangement on a patio table or porch railing.

Adorable Owl Pumpkin

Let this cute owl pumpkin haunt your porch this Halloween. We'll show you how simple he is to create!

Metallic Leaf Pumpkins

Bring beautiful shine to your home this Halloween with a pair of pretty metallic pumpkins. Collect fallen leaves and spray-paint them gold; let dry. Paint one pumpkin white and the other gold. When dry, use crafts glue to attach the metallic leaves to the white pumpkin, then arrange the pair together on your porch or front step.

Pumpkin with Floating Candles

Setting the perfect autumn ambiance starts with an exquisite Cinderella pumpkin. Cinderella pumpkins are large and deeply lobed, making them ideal for holding water and floating tea lights. Hollow out the pumpkin and remove the top with scalloped cuts to emphasize its natural shape. Add water, light the floating candles, and let the moonlit magic (or mischief) begin.

Pumpkin Mouse House

From its Swiss cheese cutouts to its miniature residents, our funny mouse-house pumpkin packs a lot of charm. Just hollow out a large pumpkin, then use a power drill and 1/2- and 1-inch flat wood bits to cut holes in the pumpkin. Spray-paint the pumpkin a light yellow, making sure to cover the cut edges of the holes. Purchase plastic mice and place them in the holes and around the pumpkin.

No-Carve Animal Print Pumpkins

Put the carving kit away -- these trendsetting pumpkins require no messy hollowing or cutting. Instead, use patterned duct tape in animal prints, such as zebra and leopard, to create different patterns and designs on each pumpkin. Strips of black tape add simple and elegant accents to the fun patterns.

Hanging Bat Pumpkins

Skip the carving and cast a spell by drawing bats on white pumpkins using a permanent marker. To hang, cut a length of thick jute and knot one end through a large washer. Drill a hole in the top and bottom of each pumpkin and use wire to pull the twine through the holes.

Spider Pumpkins

Create these crawling critters for a creepy lawn decoration. Choose orange or white medium-size round pumpkins for this project. Poke four holes in each side of the pumpkins with an awl and attach jumbo black chenille stems to create spider legs. Use adhesive glue dots to connect white and black crafts foam circles for spider eyes. Place around the lawn for a frightful surprise.

Pumpkin Greeting

What better way to welcome guests this fall season than with a wheelbarrow filled with pumpkins and gourds? Use a paint pen to write a friendly greeting on one of the larger pumpkins. Choose a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes to make the display especially pretty.

Editor's Tip: Add a jack-o'-lantern to the pile to get ready for Halloween.